Steven Alcock

Steven Alcock graduated from the University of Durham in 2012 with a Masters degree in Electronic Engineering. Prior to joining ESS, he worked as an FPGA developer with a focus on telecommunications and signal processing. At ESS, Steven works with Readout Electronics demonstrators in the Detector Group.

- I applied to work under BrightnESS after seeing an interesting job advert on LinkedIn. Working within the Detector Group, I have designed Readout Electronics demonstrators to prove key interfaces between the ICS and the DMSC. I am now starting to evolve these designs into long-term solutions. As an FPGA developer, the majority of my time is spent writing code, running software simulations and testing the target hardware. I also communicate regularly with engineers and scientists from both ESS and In-Kind partners.

To produce systems that will be fit for purpose many years into the future, I have been required to work with some of the most advanced FPGA technologies on the market. This has been hugely challenging and enjoyable.

Readout systems must be flexible and future-proof. In the early stages of the project, this meant working under a lot of uncertainty, with incomplete or out-of-date requirements. Seeing the evolution of the system design has been very satisfying.

BrightnESS has been crucial in terms of bringing people into the ESS project. As well as accelerating the rate at which work can be completed, this also serves to raise the profile of both ESS and the wider neutron scattering community.